Full Throttle 525

Trial and error is always the best method...no juice..no spark!!

Hey JROMY:

Check this site out...some good clips...

http://www.floridaoffshorerace.com/Links.html

ActiveFun

It would make sense to me that there is battery #1 and battery #2. If the starboard switch is set to battery 1, thats which batter is being used. If both switches are on battery 1, then both engines are using the same battery, and visa versa and so on. I just would like confimation that this is corrrect.

JROMY

That is what makes sense to me also - unless the boat is wired like a Cigarette. In that case, setting one switch to 1 and the other to 2 would mean they were both running off the same battery....someone out there must know!!

ActiveFun

I hope not, that wouldn't make sense to me.

So with our set up do you run both switches on both so everything gets charged, then switch starboard switch to 1 and port off so the stereo doesn't drain battery 2?

JROMY

That's where I was headed with this whole thing. I've read in some other posts that running with both switches on both can occasionally "fool" the system, so you could have a dead battery, but the alternator is picking up the one that's charged, so it stops charging and you don't know the one is bad, etc., etc. On Cigarette's, they actually warn you that running on both can do damage. I know plenty of guys who always run on both in boats other than Cigarettes, and have certainly not blown anything up, but I'd just rather do it the right way. If all else fails, I have a friend who is a 747 mechanic, so I figure I'll get him out there with his volt meter and he'll be able to tell me.

Full Throttle 525

JROMY:

I was just going to say...grab the Volt meter and you should know everything... Kind of a pain in the butt.

JROMY

I was being lazy...

Full Throttle 525

I'd help hold the volt meter but electricity and I don't get along.

Wait til you see my doo rags for the boat this summer!

With all this damn rain, I wish I had an ARK!!

Semper Fi

I just sent a PM to ED, he was a PP employee and will definately know the answer.......now all we have to do is wait for his reply


Thank ED!!

Ed

I've recieved a few more E-mails lately, begging for more "Powerplay Info". Love to help when someone has a question. We wired the Cole-Hershee brand battery switches in a twin installation, with the starboard switch to be placed in the "1" position. The port switch to be placed in the "2" position. A lot of customers put them in the "BOTH" positions, simply because they just could'nt remember which went where. Since PP's very beginning, I always bought the Cole-Hershee's & they all had the extra field disconnect feature. This protects the engines alternators, by not blowing their diodes, whenever a customer would switch battery positions while the engine(s) are still running, which is a no-no. The accessory battery(or "house" battery), was almost always the starboard battery. On the rare occasion that a third battery was ordered(an option usually requested/needed by the stereo fanatics), this became the power for just the extra electronics, amps, etc...Note: As these boats have more & more birthdays...mechanics sometimes get in there & modify things like wiring, etc...So each boat for now on, could be different. Hope this helps clear up some ???'s. Ed